Milan vs Florence

I love both cities, but I think since you mentioned feeling rushed on your first visit, I suggest going back to Firenze, and enjoying your time. Go up to Fiesole for a few hours, Piazzale Michelangelo for a sunset, some of the churches and museums you missed before.

Where are you coming from? Often Milan is the best place to fly into with direct flights from North America. Florence does not have any such flights, so you would need to connect from somewhere else in Europe.

If it was me, I'd spend an afternoon and night in Milan to recover from the flight, then get a direct IC train to Monterosso in the morning. Stop in Florence for a few days between the Cinque Terre and Venice.

The train from Venice to Munich passes through the Dolomites only in the geographic sense, since you will spend it in a deep valley and only be able to see the limestone cliffs that line the valley.

I agree that Florence is the ideal place for a go with the flow start to your trip, but if you decide on Milan, the best way to see it and learn a lot is to take the Walks of Italy "Best of Milan" 4 hour walking tour. Wonderful!

There seems to be some guerilla marketing going on with mentions of Walks of Italy Tours in several threads today. Be cautious about posts that promote commercial ventures especially when no one has asked about tours.

Actually, I took a Walks of Italy tour in Milan this past October and it was wonderful. So, I would not agree that there is marketing going on. I mention it because I enjoyed the tour and thought it was interesting and worth my time. The tour ended at the Duomo and the guide led us to the rooftop with its amazing view and hundreds of spires often referred to as a forest. The tour did not include tickets to the inside of the cathedral. The tour also included tickets to the Last Supper which I have wanted to see for a long time, very meaningful.

I enjoyed my two days in Milan and was very busy seeing the major sights. I also love Florence, a hard choice to make. But, Milan has a lot to offer as well as the easy airport access from the US. I flew from Atlanta to JFK and then direct to Milan.

Best,
Judy B

Totally agree with Judy. This is not marketing, just honest opinions from happy customers about ideas for travelers. Would you accuse Rick Steves of guerilla marketing because he has been recommending Walks of Italy in his books for years, along with restaurants, hotels, etc? The Forum should do the same as he does: provide information from personal experience that will help people enjoy their travels even more.

I agree with the previous posts; I often recommend specific services that I have used in response to questions about how best to visit a city, or acquire tickets.

ted,

I much prefer Florence over Milan. Which place to visit will depend to some extent on what sights you want to see while there.

From a transportation point-of-view, Milan is a better choice as travelling Milan > Monterosso > Venice will be a bit easier and more efficient. That avoids a zig-zag Florence > Monterosso > Venice route which will mean more transportation time.

Don't know your point of origin but we are flying Atlanta to Florence (brief layover Paris). I've Flown into Malpensa (Milan) before and thought we'd do that again but Florence was substantially lower. I enjoyed Milan when we were there but my daughter has never been to Florence so cost won out. Milan certainly has two nights worth -